‘You need to slap me harder’: What Shahid Kapoor told Mrunal Thakur when she was ‘really scared’ about Jersey scene

Mrunal Thakur spoke about a scene in her upcoming film Jersey where she slaps Shahid Kapoor. The actor said that she was scared and Shahid had encouraged her to slap him hard.

Actor Mrunal Thakur has opened up about one of the toughest scenes in her upcoming cricket drama Jersey. In a new interview, Mrunal revealed that the scene where she slaps the character of her co-star, actor Shahid Kapoor 'really scared' her. She also said how Shahid helped her 'by egging me on'.

Mrunal Thakur slapped Shahid Kapoor in Jersey.

In the Jersey trailer, Mrunal Thakur is seen shouting at Shahid Kapoor who stands looking at the floor. Just before slapping him, Mrunal screams, "Are you listening to me? At least look at me." She then hits him hard across the face but Shahid still doesn't react.

Speaking with News18 on the slapping scene, Mrunal said, “I was really scared. I didn’t want to spoil his performance. The crescendo of the scene is something else. I was tense about kahin zyada na lag jaye (What if I end up hurting him a lot). But Shahid helped me in that scene a lot, by egging me on, ‘You need to slap me harder.’ We did a lot of retakes and the slap is real. We performed the scene in the initial four or five days of shooting. I was trying to find the rhythm in my character and this scene really got me going."

On her character, she added, "When it comes to Jersey, which is set in the ’90s, I can’t think of any woman who would slap her husband like I do to Shahid’s character and be the breadwinner for the family. There are these unsubstantiated industry norms that I have worked hard to defy. I want to change the way writers write female characters."

Jersey which was earlier scheduled to release on December 31 this year has been postponed. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted on Tuesday, "#Xclusiv... #breakingnews... #Jersey postponed... won't release on 31 Dec... new date will be announced shortly... industry talk that #Jersey will be direct-to-ott release is false."

Presented by Allu Aravind, the movie has been directed by the National Award-winning filmmaker Gowtam Tinnanuri and produced by Aman Gill, Dil Raju and S Naga Vamsi. The film also stars Ronit Kamra in a lead role. Jersey is a remake of actor Nani's Telugu hit by the same name.

Shahid and Mrunal will feature together onscreen for the first time. The film is based on the life of a talented but failed cricketer who returns to the game in his late 30s. He is driven by the desire to represent the Indian cricket team and fulfil his son’s wish for a jersey as a gift.